Hi All
Following up on the suggestions of Paul and Tim in particular, the
gradual or sudden loss of water, livestock feed (drought) or resources
in extractive industries can potentially encompass a great deal of the
historical archaeological record in Australia, where evironmental
degradation is an all-too familiar theme, site abandonment is common,
and making-do with alternative materials happens regularly. For the
very tip of the iceberg, here archaeologists have studied:
the failure of water resources needed to power flour mills, (eg Pearson,
W. 1997. "Water Power in a Dry Continent: The Transfer of Watermill
Technology from Britain to Australia in the Nineteenth Century."
Australasian Historical Archaeology 14: 46-62.)
the sudden collapse of the pastoral industry due to drought and
environmental degradation (eg Cannon, A. 1992. "Woolsheds and
Catastrophe Theory: The Lower Lachlan Experiment." Australasian
Historical Archaeology 10: 65-74.),
Site abandonment in extractive industries as the raw material ran out
(esp precious metals mining (egLawrence, S. 2000. Dolly's Creek: An
Archaeology of a Victorian Gold Rush Community. Melbourne, Melbourne
University Press),
but also timber (eg Davies, P. 2006. Henry's Mill: The Historical
Archaeology of a Forest Community. Oxford, Archaeopress.),
the sealing and whaling industries (eg Nash, M. 2003. The Bay Whalers:
Tasmania's Shore-Based Whaling Industry. Hobart, Navarine Publishing;
Lawrence, S. 2006. Whalers and Free Men: Life on Tasmania's Colonial
Whaling Stations. Melbourne, Australian Scholarly Publishing.);
Etc etc
Drawing a longer bow, the end of convict transportation to NSW in the
1840s caused a sudden and catastophic labour shortage and ensuing
economic depression
(eg Connah, G. 1998. "The Archaeology of Frustration: An Australian
Case Study." Historical Archaeology 32(2): 7-27.; Connah, G. 2007. Same
Under a Different Sky?; A Country Estate in Nineteenth-Century New South
Wales. Oxford, Archaeopress.)
Oh, I could go on! Contact me off list if you want more details...
Best wishes,
Susan
Associate Professor Susan Lawrence
Archaeology
La Trobe University
Melbourne 3086
Victoria Australia
ph 61 3 9479 1790
fax 61 3 9479 1881
-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion List for Contemporary and Historical Archaeology
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Paul Belford
Sent: Thursday, 15 January 2009 4:39 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: running out
Hi Dan
Perhaps the most obvious thing that springs to mind immediately is the
supply of water. Water power in industrial installations was constantly
subject to fluctuations in supply, and a drought could have catastrophic
consequences for manufacture and production. Various ways round this
were devised at different places and in different times. A severe
drought could also cause problems in the food chain, again with
catastrophic results.
No references spring to mind straight away, but will have a think and
get back to you.
Paul
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Discussion List for Contemporary and Historical Archaeology
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of dan Hicks
> Sent: 14 January 2009 14:49
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: running out
>
> A colleague in Contemporary History, who is working on catastrophes
> after the sudden lack of a resource (he's thinking mainly of oil), has
> asked me for examples of similar sudden lacks/running out of essential
> resources that may have been studied by historical archaeologists. I
> was hard pushed to think of anything much, although this would seem to
> be the kind of thing that we should have thought about as a discipline
> -- does anyone have suggestions of published studies on this general
> theme from the archaeology of the modern period?
>
> Dan
>
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contemp-hist-arch is a list for news and events
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for announcements relating to the CHAT conference group.
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